A Partner at Boxer & Gerson LLP, Julius Young has practiced worker’s compensation law and social security disability law since 1979. He has represented thousands of individuals who have sustained life-changing injuries or illnesses while on the job. In every case, his goal is to secure the medical treatments his clients need.
One area of potential cost savings that are clearly in the political crosshairs are spinal hardware costs. The issue is currently hot a the legislature considers AB 959. Spinal hardware costs have been under increased scrutiny since a 2005 report prepared for CHSWC by RAND, written by Barbara O. Wynn and Giacomo Bergamo, “Payment for […]
The Court of Appeals decision in Valdez got me thinking further about MPNs. If reports from non-MPN doctors are admissible, will this just accelerate efforts by some attorneys and defendants to “treat on a lien”, accelerating the lien problem that plagues California’s workers’ comp system, particularly in the Los Angeles area? Clearly Valdez tells us […]
The wait for a ruling in Valdez is over. The California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 7 has spoken in Elayne Valdez v. WCAB and Warehouse Demo Services. The Court reversed a WCAB holding that precluded use of reports from non-MPN treating physicians under all circumstances. In Valdez the worker treated briefly with MPN […]
After the Court of Appeals holding in Ogilvie, many of us have been waiting to see what the WCAB would do. How would the WCAB interpret the 1st DCA’s Ogilvie decision? In its decision the Court of Appeals rejected the mathematical formula that the WCAB had developed for possible rebuttal of the PD schedule but […]
Sometimes there is a great divide between what an injured work can receive in the workers’ comp system and in the civil justice system. Being a no fault system, workers’ comp was not designed to “make workers whole”. Although workers’ comp benefits are payable regardless of who was at fault in causing the injury, those […]
If there is one thing that leaves injured workers frustrated, it’s the procedures that frequently result in treatment denials. Between 2005 and 2010, medical cost containment expenses almost quadrupled. That includes expenses for utilization review and bill review. Insurers assert that without cost containment procedures, medical treatment costs would be even higher, resulting in unsustainable […]
The California Department of Insurance will be holding a hearing today in San Francisco on the WCIRB mid year filing requesting a hike in the advisory workers’ comp rate. THe insurance market is not required to follow WCIRB recommendations or the rate finding of CDI. Rates continue to be far, far below the levels that […]
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